Newt Gingrich and invented peoples

Well, I believe that the Jewish people have a right to have a state, and I believe that the commitments that were made at the time – now, remember, there was no Palestine as a state, it was part of the Ottoman Empire, and I think that we’ve had an invented Palestinian people who are in fact Arabs and were historically part of the Arab community. And they had a chance to go many places and for a variety of political reasons we have sustained this war against Israel now since the 1940s. And I think it’s tragic.

Invented people, huh? This is a particularly interesting argument to be made by a country that has colonized its way to global power. Couldn’t someone make this argument about another group of people, who are in fact Europeans and were historically a part of the European community?

Anyway. Regardless of one’s opinion on the whole Palestine/Israel conflict, it’s comforting to to see a presidential candidate reduce cultural and historical identity to such a pithy, condescending remark.